AFC Wimbledon's Football League dream spurred on by sense of 'injustice'

AFC Wimbledon manager Terry Brown is ready to use a sense of "injustice" to spur on his players, as they embark on their final push against Hampton & Richmond Borough in Saturday's Conference South title decider.

Laying down the law: AFC Wimbledon manager Terry Brown is using all the motivational tools at his disposal to beat Hampton & Richmond on SaturdayPhoto: Daily Telegraph

With two games left the fans-owned club need just a point against second-placed Hampton, or three points against St Albans the following week, to gain promotion to the Blue Square Premier – just one step away from Football League status.

But for a number of contentious decisions in recent games it could have been all wrapped up by now. The most controversial incident came when Bromley scored an injury-time equaliser on Easter Monday – which saw the Dons drop two points and left their players and management incensed.

AFC 2-1 up, expected the ball to be returned by Bromley after it was kicked out because of injury. Instead Ryan Hall spectacularly lobbed the Dons’ keeper James Pullen.

The referee had no option but to give the goal. Chaos ensued and Bromley refused to allow the Dons to walk the ball into the net to restore their advantage and the match ended 2-2.

Rather than dwelling on the incident, however, Brown was keen to use the sense of injustice to motivate his team against Hampton.

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He explained: “We feel we were cheated last week against Bromley and we want to gain something positive out of it. We will not allow the injustice to affect us on Saturday.

“I don’t know whether he [Hall] did it on purpose or not. I’ve watched it on video, he juggles the ball, flicks it up – the referee tells him to give it back to the keeper and volleys it with the outside of his foot from the halfway line into the top corner.

“If he did do it on purpose it made David Beckham look pretty ordinary. But he did celebrate the goal which was pretty hard to take.”

For the club, which was set up only seven years ago by angry supporters of the original Wimbledon after they moved to Buckinghamshire and were renamed MK Dons, to come within touching distance of the Football League is a true footballing fairy tale.

“We have made massive strides in the last two years to get to within one step of the Football League,” Brown said. “It would be a fantastic achievement for the club, in less than seven years we have bought our own ground and raced through the leagues. We have played the right way and given the fans’ club something to be proud of.”

Standing in the way of AFC Wimbledon’s Football League dream is a man working minor miracles of his own – Hampton manager Alan Devonshire. Brown has nothing but respect for the former West Ham and England midfielder. “He has worked wonders at Hampton & Richmond,” Brown said.

“They are a much smaller club than us with more limited resources. But he has taken them to promotion into the Blue Square South, the play-offs last season and now they are title contenders.”

Anyone expecting a classic encounter on Saturday could be disappointed. With so much riding on the game Brown predicts an attritional affair. He said: “I don’t expect it to be a good game, it will be a tight, very tense and very nervous.

"The pitch is not the best so we will be going there for a scrap not to play football. We have to go for the win, as most managers will tell you, when you go for the draw – that’s when you get yourself in trouble.”